Quest of the Heart
by Aurora Nyte
Summary: Kagome finds herself on a quest that will test her heart and courage. On his father's instruction Sesshomaru must aid her in this quest. Will the two be bound together or will they tear each other apart. Only in the end will the heart know.


Quest of the Heart

Warning: They will probably be OOC, so please no complaining. I will adjust their personalities as needed for the storyline. I'm not exactly certain where this will lead at the moment so I'm making it M just in case, especially for language (and possible situations to come) Ratings and genre's may change depending on how this story goes.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to Inuyasha, the original creator does. I just love to torment them in my own way. J

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Chapter 1

Heavy rain pelted the windows and the sharp crack of thunder shook the room as lightning streaked across the night sky, casting eerie shadows along the walls of the library. The heavy atmosphere of the room was only magnified by the oppressive feel of the thunderstorm outside and Kagome could only wrap her arms around her slender body and pray it ended soon.

Dragging sad eyes from the window, they settled on the occupant of the large wingback chair across from her. She had never seen the man so depressed in all the time she had known him. The great Inu no Tashio was always so cheerful, to see him like this would have normally broken her heart, if it had not already been shattered in a million pieces.

Forlornly, the larger than life demon lord stared into the fire burning in the library hearth. His golden eyes were unfocused and she knew that his mind was a million miles away. The firelight cast a red-gold cast to his beautiful, long silver hair and shadowed his face in such a way that made the ancient demon look haggard and drawn. Usually he kept the long strands in a ponytail on his head even when he wore his most expensive business suit but now the tousled strands showed just how far into hopelessness the lord had become. He had even reverted back to wearing the traditional armor and kimono he had worn back when Japan was comprised of nothing more than warring states.

"My men have searched everywhere," he said suddenly, so softly that Kagome almost missed it. "There is no trace of him." With a loud growl he hurled the glass of brandy he had been holding into the flames. "What good is having an army if I cannot locate my own flesh and blood?"

Kagome, who had been desperately trying to not look at the fire, could not help but watch with morbid fascination as flames swelled greedily consuming the alcohol. To her relief, that was all she saw but the second she looked away, from the corner of her eye she caught the slightest shifting of movement just slightly in front of the fireplace. _Don't look, don't look, _she mentally told herself as she tried to keep her full attention on the dog general.

"We'll find him," she spoke just as softly though there was little conviction in her voice.

_You will find him you mean_. The airy voice floated to her from the fireplace and she struggled not to look in the direction of its owner. After all she was the only one that could hear it and she really did not want to alarm the already distressed demon beside her.

As if the apparition read her thoughts, it snorted softly. _ You need to tell him already. Time is of the utmost importance child._

Kagome sighed softly, brushing away the few stray tears that had managed to somehow sneak past her resolve to not cry anymore. Tears would do them no good and would only succeed in making her head hurt worse than it already was. It wasn't that she was afraid to tell him exactly what was going on, it was that she just did not know how to handle what little she did know.

"I have something to tell you," she whispered almost afraid to draw his attention to herself.

For as long as Kagome could remember, she had been friends with his youngest son, Inuyasha. They told her that it all started when she was around four and had wandered away from the shrine she called home. Inu no Tashio had discovered her wandering about his vast estate when he and his sons were on patrol and taken an instant liking to her. He could not believe that so small a child had managed to get past his highly trained security guards in order to have reached the garden where they had found her.

Inuyasha had apparently mouthed off, and before Inu no Tashio could reprimand his son, the little four-year old had easily subdued the half demon. She really wished she could remember what exactly it was that she had done, but since that day the two had become fast friends. As they had grown older, they had become closer and both of their families had been thrilled when he had proposed to her six months ago and she had accepted.

Two months to the day after Inuyasha proposed the trouble began. It started out innocent enough, stray objects left around that shrine that none of the visitors claimed, the bells ringing when there was no breeze to stir them, nothing too out of the ordinary. Then the objects became sutras, small strips of paper that had magic symbols on them. Growing up in a shrine with her Grandfather, Kagome was use to the sutras because he used them for many ceremonies, but these were different. Even her grandfather did not know the meaning of the symbols inked on the ancient looking paper. He believed they were dark magic, something unholy. She remembered that he had shown one such sutra to Inu no Tashio only to come up blank. The dog demon had lived for thousands of years but even he did not recognize the language used on the paper.

Then about eight weeks ago, at one of the various festivals the shrine held, Kagome saw the apparition for the very first time. It floated just above the bon fire, its shape vaguely human with glowing red eyes that seemed to stare straight at her. Since that night, every time she was near any sort of flame the apparition would make itself known. She had consulted with her grandfather about it and was surprised to learn that it was called an Enenra. A demon comprised of smoke that was only suppose to be able to be seen by the most pure of heart. He was adamant that it was a messenger of the gods and demanded to know if she had seen one. Of course, she had told him no, that she had merely stumbled on something in a book and was curious. She doubted he believed her, but wisely let the matter drop for which she was profoundly thankful.

After that day, the Enenra began to take on a more solid looking form. Now, Kagome could make out the female shape the demon chose to wear that day. It had showed her only two so far, one a young woman dressed in what appeared to be the traditional dress of a shrine maiden, or miko. The second was that of a small female child maybe about seven years of age though she could not be certain.

Being a miko herself, Kagome was well versed in what her role was within the shrine and what it had once been long ago. She showed some promise of holding the ancient powers that were rare in the modern age, so when she first started getting these visits she had not worried too much. It was to be expected when the gods granted you holy powers, after all. That was she wasn't until Inuyasha began to act very strange. He was normally brash, headstrong and stubborn but even if he was rough around the edges, she knew that he cared for her deeply, so when he began to stare off into space or forget important things, she began worrying about him. When he started to ignore her calls and stay away for longer periods of time, she had gone to his father to find out if there was something going on.

Izayoi, Inuyasha's mother, had also noticed the changes in her son and together the two spoke with Inu no Tashio. The father was just as upset about the situation as they had been and promised to try and find out what was going on.

The last time Kagome had seen Inuyasha, they had been sitting just outside his father's library enjoying the summer sun. She had noticed that he was having a harder and harder time focusing on anything she was saying. His eyes would become hazy and clouded for several minutes at a time, his gaze fixed on something that could not be seen in the west. Then he would shake it off for a few minutes only to drift off again. Then just as night began to fall, Inuyasha was leaning over to kiss her goodnight before this father's chauffeur took her home when he suddenly reared back.

"Who the fuck are you?" he had demanded, roughly pushing her away. His eyes had bleed red and if it had not of been for his brother, Sesshomaru, she may have been killed by the very man she loved. He had just been walking from the house to go out of the night when he saw his half-brother draw back his hand ready to claw her to shreds.

Sesshomaru's quick reflexes allowed him to knock Inuyasha away from her just in the nick of time, but her boyfriend had looked at them as if they were both strangers. Even as his father and mother emerged from the house to see what was going, there was no flicker of recognition in his eyes. Inuyasha had forgotten who they were, he had forgotten her.

Before they could stop him, Inuyasha had uttered a few curse words and bound away from the home, leaving his stunned family behind him. Since that day, two weeks ago, his father had exhausted every source he had to locate his son, but to no avail. It was as if Inuyasha had disappeared into thin air.

Now, as the great dog demon fixed his piercing gaze on the nervous girl, Kagome told him exactly what had happened leading up to Inuyasha's disappearance and what the Enenra had been telling her. When she was finished, she exhaled slowly, trying to release the tension that had built in her muscles while she relayed her tale.

"Kagome, you realize that not just anyone can see an Enenra demon," Inu no Tashio spoke quietly, his eyes lingering on her face as if trying to detect any falsehood. "If this being is seeking you out it is because you are being called by the gods for some purpose."

Kagome could only nod and swallow hard. "She says that only I can find Inuyasha and that time is of the greatest importance."

Inu no Tashio sat silently contemplating all that she had told him, then with a nod of his head he rose swiftly from his chair and strode with purpose toward the library door. Yanking the massive oak door open he yelled. "Sesshomaru, I have need of you."

Confident that his eldest would hear him, he strode back to his seat. Within seconds, Sesshomaru strode into the library to stand before his father. "You summoned this one father?"

"I did. It has come to my attention that an Enenra spirit has contacted Kagome and that she has been giving a quest that would include finding your brother. You will accompany her because she will need someone to protect her." Inu no Tashio informed his son.

Kagome was about to open her mouth to protest when the Enenra's voice drifted to her. _Ohh, he's a strong one. He'll do perfectly. _ The statement was enough to leave her speechless.

How was she going to deal with the spirit, her broken heart, and Sesshomaru, who was as cold as a marble statue and seemed to dislike her, all while trying to find out exactly what happened to Inuyasha. This was going to be even harder then she had first hoped.

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Hi everyone, long time no see! Well here's the first part of the story that's been stuck in my head the last few weeks. Sorry it's taken me so long but life is pretty hectic and I'll warn you right now that I do not know when I'll get the chance to update. I just hope it don't take me as long a Sunset love did to finish. Enjoy!


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